Monday, August 09, 2010

Lego Sack with Window

Before our vacation, I spent a lot of time gathering books and toys to take with us. I searched for anything portable and with enough substance to keep the 2-year old occupied for "long" stretches of time. She loves legos (it's in the genes on both sides) and seemed ready for the upgrade to the smaller size so I bought the big set of pink Legos from Amazon. Of course we couldn't bring the massive tub with us on the plane so I decided to make a bag for them.

I had seen this amazing drawstring toy sack tutorial on Make it Perfect through Craft Gossip. At the time, I just thought it was very clever. I had no plans to actually make it. But then I bought some Yo Gabba Gabba panties and they came in this nice little pouch. Of course, I threw it away and had to dig it out of the trash when the thought came to me to make a little window out of the vinyl just like in the tutorial.

I wanted something more case-like so I didn't even follow the tutorial at all beyond the inspiration (although that might not have been a bad idea because she uses paperclips to hold the fabric to the vinyl since you can't pin through it. I just fought with it instead). I used Lizzy House's Red Letter Day again with the Pearl Bracelet print and more ducks. The tree stump fabric is by Jay McCarroll, my favorite winner of Project Runway, and grosgrain ribbon for the handles.

This, surprisingly, was not too difficult to make. I had to do a drawing of what I had in my head. Then I added some measurements to that. Then I kind of exploded the drawing and added seam allowances to my edges to figure out what to cut. The bottom has a layer of stabilizer/interfacing in it and I wish I would have used it on all sides because now that the case has seen some use, it's not as stiff as I would like. I expect our Lego collection to outgrow this soon but I'm impressed with it. Even though it is not perfect, I was proud to pull it off.

12 comments:

mon ami said...

And you should be proud! This is awesome. I am totally inspired. Thanks for sharing!

Petals said...

I love this! So cute and a great idea.

Anna said...

this is really cool. I love it. I just saw make it perfect's tute yesterday again and I do like your version, especially the handles!

Beth Lemon said...

Thanks so much for the awesome comments. This was fun to make.

bagfashionista said...

i love it! am going to take a VERY long flight with my toddler soon....trying to think of something that will provide maximum amusement with easy handling...i only have 2 arms!

Beth Lemon said...

How old is your son? We had several different things for her -- some worked and some didn't.

iSew said...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! And that fabrics are great too.

Even though we're still a couple months from having our little one, we've already had lots of "what kind of Lego we'll have" discussions. haha

Beth Lemon said...

Dude, you are going to have a million legos.

You have no idea.

LizzyHouse said...

You need to write a pattern for this and sell it! It's AMAZING!

Steph said...

Ooh, that is GREAT! And we have so many of those clear vinyl packages around here (including one from the Yo Gabba Gabba undies!) because every time I say "it just looks so useful, I can't possibly throw this away." Maybe now I can make storage for the huge tub of Duplos and the huge tub of Little People and the huge tub of doll clothes and the 7 different kinds of blocks and all the other used-to-be-mine toys my mother keeps dragging down here every time she visits.

Beth Lemon said...

Where does all this stuff come from? It's crazy.

Just make sure to add stiff interfacing between all the layers or else it's too floppy.

Sabra at Sew a Straight Line said...

awesome!! I actually have "some Lego carrying case" on my list of things to make my boys for Christmas.

And really, I think I'm in love with ALL of your fabric.